Understanding Houston recently updated the Housing topic with 2024 data, revealing new key findings. Here are the five most important insights and trends to know.
Houston still has a reputation for affordability, but the latest numbers show that for many families, that promise is slipping away. The 2026 Kinder Houston Area Survey from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University found that Houston-area residents identified the cost of housing to be the third “biggest problem” residents face. Rising costs, widening racial disparities, and a surge in evictions are reshaping where people live and how securely.
Here are five findings from the most recent data that deserve your attention.
1. The suburbs aren’t just for homeowners anymore.
For decades, moving to Fort Bend or Montgomery counties meant buying a more affordable house. That’s no longer the default.
Between 2010 and 2024, the number of renters grew by 85% in Fort Bend and 90% in Montgomery County, growth rates that outpaced the rise in homeowners in both counties.
As home prices rise and first-time homeownership becomes less attainable, more suburban families are renting—either by choice or necessity. This shift has major implications for housing policy, disaster resilience, and long-term wealth-building.
Despite this growth, households in Fort Bend (76%) and Montgomery (71%) counties are still more likely to own than rent compared to those in Harris County (54%).
Explore the data on homeownership and renting trends.
2. The Black-white homeownership gap is growing.
American families that own their homes have a median net worth of nearly $400,000 compared to $10,400 for renters. Homeownership remains one of the most reliable pathways to building intergenerational wealth, but its reach remains deeply unequal as the legacy of redlining and discriminatory lending has only deepened over time. Understanding where these gaps are widening, and why, is essential to addressing one of the region’s most persistent challenges.
About 72% of white households in Houston’s three-county region were homeowners in 2024, compared with 40% of Black households—a 32-percentage-point gap. The gap between white and Black homeownership has widened since 2010, driven entirely by declines in homeownership rates among Black households as rates for white households remained unchanged. Since 2010, the disparity in homeownership rates between white and Black households has widened by 6 percentage points in Fort Bend County, 7 points in Harris County, and 11 points in Montgomery County.
Dig into the homeownership data by demographic characteristics.
3. Houston-area home values have risen faster than the national average.
Houston’s affordability reputation is under real pressure as rising housing prices have outpace incomes. The result is a widening gap that makes the dream of first-time homeownership harder to reach for the average Houstonian than it was a decade ago.
Between 2010 and 2024, median home values increased by 39% nationally compared with 70% in Texas. Despite this faster growth, the median home value in Texas is consistently lower than in the U.S. Locally, the median home value rose 61% in Fort Bend County, 58% in Harris County, and 58% in Montgomery County between 2010 and 2024.
In 2024, median home values in the region were highest in Fort Bend County ($408,100). Median home values in Montgomery County were similar to that of the U.S. at around $360,000. The median home value in Harris County was $301,700, which was just below the state median value of $313,200.
See how local home values compare to state and national trends.
4. Renters are bearing the brunt of rising housing costs.
Since the pandemic, the cost of housing has surged in most major metros. However, housing costs aren’t rising equally for everyone in Houston.
Between 2010 and 2024, median monthly rent increased 17% in Fort Bend County and 20% in Harris County, while monthly housing payments for homeowners actually fell 2% in Fort Bend County and 7% in Harris County. Both rent and homeowner payments increased in Montgomery County by 31% and 7%, respectively. Fort Bend County had the highest medium gross rent in 2024 at $1,823 followed by Montgomery County at $1,595. Median rent in Harris County was slightly lower at $1,444.
The consequences are serious: more than half of Houston-area renters spend more than the recommended 30% of income on housing, up five percentage points since 2010. And, more than one in four renters spend at least 50% of their income on housing costs. That leaves little room for savings, healthcare, childcare, or any financial cushion when emergencies arise.
Explore the full picture on housing cost burden.
5. Evictions have surged well past pre-pandemic levels.
One of the clearest warning signs Houston-area renters are struggling is the increase in eviction filings since COVID-era protections expired. Eviction doesn’t just displace families, it creates barriers to finding stable housing in the future, disrupts children’s schooling, and strains community support systems. With renters increasingly cost-burdened and fewer safety nets in place, the region’s most housing-insecure residents are especially exposed.
Local eviction filings began to surpass their pre-pandemic levels in January 2022, and in 2025, eviction filings in the Houston area reached 77,000, compared to a pre-pandemic yearly total of around 58,000.
Learn more about housing vulnerabilities in the Houston region.
What the Data Makes Clear
Taken together, these findings suggest a region with growing housing insecurity. Nearly 883,600 households across Houston’s three-county region, or 37%, are burdened by monthly housing costs, with renters twice as likely as homeowners to be cost burdened. Given that wages have stagnated and the dramatic rise in inflation, it’s not surprising that evictions have surged.
Like other large metros in the nation, Houston’s housing challenges are not easing, and our most vulnerable residents continue to struggle. Families in Houston need more affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods that offer high-quality public school education, access to good jobs that pay family sustaining wages, and safe streets that allow neighbors to interact and develop relationships.
Visit Understanding Houston to explore the data across both housing topic pages, including county-level comparisons, trend lines, and context for each indicator.
What Houston is Doing
The data is sobering, but the work to address it is already underway. A few efforts worth knowing:
- The Houston-Harris County Housing Affordability Strategy is a joint City-County initiative developing a data-driven, comprehensive plan to address the region’s housing challenges.
- The Houston Land Bank transforms vacant and underutilized properties into affordable homes by partnering with homebuyers, builders, and community organizations to strengthen neighborhoods across Houston.
- The Houston Land Trust connects limited-income households with permanently affordable housing and provides ongoing stewardship to support long-term homeownership stability.